


Duo For Violin and Violoncello

by Cloud (CloudFlower)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Cellist!Eren, Levi works as a music scribe for soulmates, M/M, Music AU, Musician Levi, Pianist Hanji, Sina Conservatory of Music, Soulmate AU, soulmate duets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-15 22:25:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8075191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CloudFlower/pseuds/Cloud
Summary: “Hanji spoke very highly of you. They like you and I honestly hope that you’re as good as they seem to think you are.” With that, Levi moved forward and placed the music he’d been holding onto the stand in front of Eren.Everything looked fairly simple. But that’s why soulmate pieces were so deceiving. The difficulty lay in mastering the emotions of the piece, not just the rhythms and pitches.Eren stared boldly into the man’s face, a small smile gracing his lips as he spoke confidently, “I guess we’ll just have to see, won’t we?” (Or that one Music Au where each person is born with melody/piece and when put together with their soulmate's it creates a harmonized duet- or trio, etc.)





	1. Lindamark

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Feolkieer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feolkieer/gifts).



> So i finally found the motivation to write something. Happy Birthday [Feolkieer](https://feolkieer.tumblr.com)!!! I'm sorry I'm a day late but this just wasn't ready to post yet. 
> 
> Like pretty much all of my other recent fics, this is based off a prompt she sent me so if you enjoy it, you all know who to thank. I'll give out the link for the prompt to anyone who's really curious, but I deviated a bit so I didn't bother putting it here like I usually do.

Eren had his eyes closed, listening intently to the clicking metronome. He shut everything out except that steady pulse, letting it thrum through him till he could feel it beating in his core. He subdivided and played. The triplets were still a bit off; he was taking too much time on the shift. Again. Stop. Practice the shift. He isolated the measure and—

“Eren!”

His bow crunched against the strings. The door had been wrenched open and the wall of sound it had been blocking out immediately flooded the room. Along with a rather eccentric brunet.

“ _Fuck_ Hanji. You scared me.” His heart was still racing even though he was perhaps a bit too well acquainted with Hanji bursting into his practice spaces like this. “I swear one of these days you’re going to actually give some poor freshman a heart attack.”

Hanji laughed. “Been there, done that. Not as fun as it sounds though. Really.” They leaned forward and ruffled his hair, “Don’t worry kiddo, this time I was definitely sure it was you.”

Eren rolled his eyes, but laughed all the same. Hanji may have been a bit strange even for a musician, but they were probably the only person in the world that could interrupt his practicing, ruffle his hair and still make it out alive.

“Are those excerpts?” Hanji asked.

He hummed an affirmation.

“Well do you think you could take a break from Don Juan for maybe five minutes? I would’ve texted you, but everyone knows you turn your phone off when you’re practicing.” They gave him a look that said _and you’re always practicing._ “I promise I’ll be quick.” They added, refocusing Eren on the topic.

Hanji was the type of person to stick their face in the practice room window like some sort of gremlin or throw open the door for a familiar mop of brown hair just to say hi. But that was it. Even though they were a master of disrupting concentration, oddly enough, they respected that a lot of people didn’t want to sit and chitchat when they were supposed to be practicing.

So if Hanji wanted to talk, there was a reason why.

He took in Hanji’s relaxed, but serious expression. “Sure.”

“Great.” They beamed at him, coming further into the confined room and shutting the door behind them so the two of them could actually hear each other speak without yelling.

“What if I told you a friend of mine was looking for a cellist? He’s a good guy and he’ll pay you. I can send you some more details,” They waved their phone, “but only if you’ve actually got time in your schedule.”

“Depends. When and how long?”

Hanji grinned. “That’s what I like to hear! The when will be flexible, but basically, you’re looking at one-two rehearsals and a recording session. Only a few hours for each.”

 _Only a few hours and then recording?_ His face must have said it all because Hanji paused there and laughed.

“Don’t worry.” Hanji said, “This friend, Levi, he works as a scribe for soulmates. The music is pretty simple so you should only need a rehearsal or two to get it perfect and he won’t keep you there for hours on end. He’s got a few different times available, you can pick the one that works best for you. Plus he’ll give you a hundred dollars.”

 _Soulmates huh?_ Eren hadn’t performed any in a while, but they were among the most common gigs for a classical musician to land nowadays. Eren sat back in his chair calculating the time and the money. It wasn’t a bad offer. Not at all. And if this guy was a friend of Hanji’s….

“Just so you know,” Hanji started, getting Eren’s attention again, “He does a have cellist that he usually goes to. A professional guy blah blah blah point is he bailed on him last minute so needs a replacement.” They looked at Eren to see if he was following and kept going when he nodded.

“Basically I can’t guarantee anything, but if you take _this_ gig, next time his cellist has a conflict again for whatever reason -”

“-I’ll be the first guy he asks to fill in.” Eren finished for them.

“Y’know, if he likes you and all that, so be nice.” They winked at him already making their way towards the door.

“I know how to be professional Hanji. Forward me his contact information.”

 

~~

 

Eren paused at the top of the stairs to catch his breath and readjust the straps of his cello. He smoothed down the front of his shirt and tried his best not to look winded from the climb before knocking briskly at the door. He immediately heard movement. He tugged at his shirt one last time and braced himself.

From the text messages he had exchanged with Levi, he gathered that the man was well organized, professional and most importantly perhaps, punctual. He had replied promptly and concisely to every single one of Eren’s texts and had scheduled both the rehearsal and the recording session down to the minute.

The door was yanked open rather unceremoniously to reveal a man that could only be Levi. The man looked like the perfect picture of a refined musician. He had incredibly dark hair that framed both sides of his face, somehow managing to make it look tousled and professional at the same time. Nothing like the mop of brown hair Eren had on his own head. He was wearing a black vest over a loosely buttoned dress shirt, rolled up to his elbows.

Levi came up a bit short of Eren, but his sharp grey eyes more than made up for any number of inches he was lacking. He met Eren’s eyes, briefly flickering to the cello on his back and then giving him a quick once-over.

“Eren then, I assume. Come in.”

And just like that, Eren was left alone in the entrance, brain still processing the richness of Levi’s voice. He slowly reconsidered his first impression of ‘pianist’ given his relationship to Hanji, for a vocalist. But in all honesty, the man had the mannerisms of a violinist.

Deciding that he would find out soon enough anyway, Eren strode into the apartment closing the door softly behind him.

~

“I’d have given you the music ahead of time to practice of course, but there were a few details I wanted to explicitly go over. Oh, and if I think your playing is shit, you won’t be here for very long.” Levi spoke bluntly, obviously not one to sugarcoat.

Eren only glared silently at the man from his seat, as he adjusted the length of his endpin before glancing down at the floor to position it correctly at the end of his strap. He sure as hell wasn’t’ going to be blamed for any nicks or scratches on the hardwood flooring.

He was honestly too used to the world of music to care much about how brusque Levi was. Music always seemed like a laid back profession, but more often than not, it was a ‘get chewed up and spit back out’ type of world and all you really had to rely on at the end of the day was your own skill to prove your merit.

Levi hadn’t noticed Eren’s silent disapproval, or more likely didn’t care, but Eren hadn’t really expected him to anyway. The man just continued speaking, leaning casually on the grand piano that occupied a large portion of the room. Eren, on the other hand, was still listening but allowed himself a chance to appraise his surroundings now that he was done setting up.

“The style of the piece shouldn’t be too difficult for you to pick up, given your training. I’m sure Hanji told you that I’m rather familiar with Sina and many of the professors there. That being said, I hope we can work through this with only one rehearsal—”

The walls were a muted blue and sparsely decorated for someone’s ‘living room.’ No family pictures or pretty décor, simply a round, analog clock hanging above the piano to Eren’s right, and a large full-length mirror to his left. Curtains had been pulled back to let natural light flood the room, illuminating several music stands occupying one of the nearby corners. As Eren continued to look around he noticed several cases on the floor neatly arranged next to a small sofa. The seat blocked the full number of instruments from view, but even what Eren could see was surely an impressive -and expensive- collection.

“—But I’m not that optimistic so we’ll probably have to work in another time to meet before the recording session on Saturday, even if that means you just showing up two hours early.” Levi paused here, and Eren ceased his assessment of the room when he felt Levi’s eyes on him. He held the man’s gaze for a few moments before the other spoke again.

“Hanji spoke very highly of you. They like you and I honestly hope that you’re as good as they seem to think you are.” With that, Levi moved forward and placed the music he’d been holding onto the stand in front of Eren, positioning it so the brunet could see better.

The top read _Lindamark: Duet for Violin and Violincello_. Eren couldn’t help a small smirk as he began slowly reading over the notes on the page. He fucking knew Levi was a violinist.

Everything looked fairly simple. But that’s why soulmate pieces were so deceiving. The difficulty lay in mastering the emotions of the piece, not just the rhythms and pitches.

Eren stared boldly into the man’s face, a small smile gracing his lips as he spoke confidently, “I guess we’ll just have to see.”

~

“No!” Levi moved his violin down to his side, striding over to stand next to Eren who groaned audibly. This had to be the thirtieth time Levi had stopped them. Probably more than that. It had to be more.

“The stroke is wrong, you can’t go DA da Da Da,” he moved his free hand as he spoke, “you’re bowing too quickly and putting too much emphasis on the first note, let it build. Make it Da da Da Daaaa 2-3- 4, and vibrato the –Yes! Like that! Good, again from measure 32.”

Eren listened closely for Levi’s cue, breathing with him and repeating the measure again, being mindful of every small articulation, every bit of movement.

“Come out just a bit more,” Levi said around his chin rest and Eren immediately obliged, swaying softly as he moved up the fingerboard. He heard a content hum from Levi and felt pride wash through him.

Levi cut them off.

“Now from the beginning.”

They played through the piece enough times for Eren to lose count. Even though the piece looked so simple, Levi was relentless and there was always something to improve. By the time they were finished and Eren began to numbly pack up, he noticed that the sunlight in the room had diminished into a thick evening glow. He glanced at the clock on the wall in confusion.

“What?!”

Levi jerked up, pinning him with a glare that demanded an explanation for his outburst.

“I’ve been here for three and a half hours?” Eren asked, disbelief lacing his voice.

Levi propped a hand on his hip, “Well, we could’ve been done a lot sooner if someone hadn’t fucked around so much—”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant.” He scratched the back of his head, “It just didn’t feel that long, which is good. It felt good.”

Levi hummed, but didn’t say anything as he returned to tidying up the room, putting the stands both he and Eren had used back in the corner with the others.

Eren’s arms felt heavy, but in the best way, like he had accomplished something. He was proud of himself. Between orchestra and practicing between his classes, today had been really productive. If his sister found out how much he’d played today she’d probably insist he take it easy tomorrow, but right now he felt so on top of the world he was legitimately thinking of skipping dinner to head straight for the practice rooms again.

Eren wasn’t even paying attention as he closed his cello case and slid the straps onto his shoulders, drafting a schedule of his evening in his mind. He didn’t even notice Levi follow him to the entranceway.

“Oi, we’re not done yet.”

“Oh. Sorry,” Eren said.

Levi just rolled his eyes.

“Here.” He pushed a plastic water bottle into Eren’s hands, “Next time make sure you bring one yourself. And, speaking of next time, I’ll see you here at one, Saturday. I’d like to run through the piece a couple more times for any spots, which you’ll have hopefully practiced.” He gave Eren a pointed look that said _you better practice_. “Then we’ll start recording. We might need a few takes, especially since it’s our first one and you’ll probably do something stupid like get nervous or whatever.” Levi looked like the very idea of someone being nervous was too idiotic to wrap his head around. “So make sure you leave your afternoon pretty free.”

Eren nodded. The conversation seemed to be over so he opened the door and was ready to let it swing shut again when Levi stopped it, “One last thing brat.” His voice was a bit uncharacteristically soft. “Your playing….you’re not bad.”

Eren was left standing in the hallway trying to figure out if he’d been praised or not.

~

Levi really wasn’t one to waste time.

He didn’t even greet Eren before retreating back into a den of wires and microphones. Eren stepped around the recording equipment gingerly as he searched for a place to leave his case.

He’d done recordings before. Prescreens mostly, but none of the equipment he’d used for that looked nearly this expensive. Luckily, it felt fair to say that if Eren could live through Levi staring intently at him as he tuned, he’d be fine in front of any audience. Especially one composed of electronics.

Eren shuffled in his chair, trying to get comfortable and quickly setting his bow. He eyed Levi, tense for the cue to start. Only, it didn’t come.

“Eren.”

He almost groaned. “I haven’t even done anything yet!”

Levi huffed and set his violin down, “That makes the problem worse, idiot. We haven’t even started and you’re like a fucking board.” He wacked one of Eren’s shoulders with his bow, “Relax these—”

“Yeah they’re sure as hell gonna relax when you hit them—”

“And _breath_ for God’s sake. You can’t just,” Levi swallowed a gulp of air, throwing his head back, “inhale like this and expect to play the note right.” He mimed playing while holding his breath, leaning further and further backwards as he sawed at the air above his strings with his bow. He exhaled and stood back, looking expectantly at Eren. “Before this piece even starts, our breathing has to be one. That’s never going to happen if you’re tense. Or rushed. Get all of your butt scooting around done and then you’re eyes are on me,” His voice softened, “and you’re shoulders are relaxed, and your bow is on the string, I look at you like this, you start that gorgeous vibrato and then, we go.”

He inhaled and they both started, but he immediately cut them off, “Good now do everything I just fucking talked about and this time we’ll go on.”

They only played through the piece once before Levi announced it was ‘good enough’ to record.

Their first take wasn’t bad. Actually, it was probably the best they’d played so far, and by Levi’s previous standards it should have been “good enough” but Levi made it clear that he thought it could be better.

“Eren, you don’t have to look at the music so much. You already know the notes. Remember: This is a _duet_.”

Eren nodded. He needed to stop playing like a soloist.

They fell into silence as Levi repositioned his violin, Eren shifting in his chair. The brunet almost felt uncomfortable by the silence and the way he could sense Levi standing in front of him. But then he closed his eyes and just thought about _breathing_ and _relaxing_ his shoulders. He thought about how he wanted his first note to sound, the vibrato, how he wanted it to resonate. Resonate with Levi’s. He concentrated and sought out Levi’s breath, slowly opening his eyes, synchronizing each inhale and exhale to his.

Levi gave him a side-glance and he started his vibrato just before Levi tilted his head back and sniffed.

Eren imagined the ocean. The small swells and then the larger ones. He envisioned two waves melding into one and then separating again. He thought of the notes in his mind, the intervals between each one and how he wanted each to sound. Levi’s eyelashes quivered as his whole body swayed softly back and forth, face set deep in concentration. And it felt like he was really listening to Eren play. Enjoying it. And Eren would be lying if he said there was anything lacking about the way Levi played. And then his eyes were fluttering open and Eren was holding his gaze, eyes darting back to the music every now and then to remind himself of the notes. But each time he looked back up, Levi’s eyes were waiting for him. Swaying and breathing together.

Eren couldn’t help but hold his breath as they sustained the last note.

The sound faded away, Levi’s eyes still on his, guiding him on how to release the note with a soft dip of his head.

Levi broke the silence. “Good. Uh…it was good. Yeah I think this will work.” He walked over to the piano bench where his case lay open and waiting, gently setting his violin down. Eren was a little slower, his brain trying to catch up as he worked himself out of the trance and began methodically packing away his cello and loosening his bow. He felt oddly sated. As if something inside him had been completely filled. Playing like this, with someone else, there was just something so satisfying and fulfilling about it.

He caught the other man staring at him.

Levi inhaled deeply, “Well Eren, it seems we’re done here. I have your check over here.”

_Oh._

Eren watched almost in a haze as Levi pulled a small slip of paper off piano’s music rack and strode over to him. He wasn’t sure if he was more surprised by the fact that he was getting _paid_ for working with Levi -something that took only a handful of hours and improved his musicality- or the fact that he could feel a heavy cloud of disappointment settling on his chest.

The check was made out to him with an amount of $120.

It was more than he was expecting. But something about the money, it almost felt like Levi had been offering him private lessons, yet he was the one paying _Eren_ at the end of the day.

It was probably the best gig he’d ever had.

It had only been a week, but Eren felt like his love for music had been renewed all over again. It was so easy to look at it as a job and forget how much he really did love the cello.

He might not be seeing Levi again after this, but he definitely wasn’t going to forget this anytime soon. The man was blunt and rude, but he was an outstanding musician and he had been incredible to work with. Levi had given him a lot of valuable advice and he was going to use it to better himself further.

Eren reached out and accepted the check with a smile.

“Thank you Levi.”


	2. AutumnRose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3 months later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola! So the bad news is, it's been.....quite a while and this chapter is a bit shorter than most, But the good news is it's short cuz I realized i wanted the huge chunk at the bottom to be part of the next chapter. So now next chapter is like halfway done ヾ(^ ^ゞ

 

[Hanji]: Boy oh boy do I have news for you!

[Hanji]: No really this is good!

[Hanji]: Like you should worship me from the top of a mountain good

[Hanji]: I hate texting god dammit I wanna see your faaaaaaace

[Hanji]: Ur beutiful face Eren I wan 2 see it lght up with joy!

[Hanji]: Why aren’t you responfing??? Im dying over here!

[Hanji]:Errrreeeeeeennnnnn

[Hanji]: I cant find you! Where are you practicing? Turn on ur phone *crying emoji*

Eren sighed. Hanji knew that he always turned his phone off when he practiced. His frown deepened when he realized that Hanji had also called him several times in addition to all the text messages. Whatever it was they wanted to tell him had them _very_ excited.

His phone suddenly erupted into a cacophony of vibrations and some default ringtone he had never bothered to change. He almost dropped it in shock but managed to quickly hit the accept button and bring the phone to his ear.

“God, Hanji, I get that you’re eager to tell me whatever it is, but I think it was pretty obvious I was _practicing_.” He spoke curtly into the phone as he jogged down the stairs towards his cello locker.

The other end of the line was quiet.

That was…odd.

“Hanji?”

Maybe they were still looking for him in the practice area and had lost reception. He reflexively turned around and looked back the way he’d come. Eren was about to pull the phone away from his ear to check and see if the call was still connected when a low velvety voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

“If you ever call me by that name again, I’ll smash a piano bench over your head.”

A million questions raced through his mind all at once and he suddenly couldn’t remember how to speak properly.

“Oi brat, are you listening?”

“No, yeah, I’m still here,” he said, and then sheepishly added, “Hi.”

He heard a snort and couldn’t help but grin as he started walking again.

The pause that followed was long enough for him to reach his locker.

“So…” He reached out and fiddled with the lock as he spoke, not actually inputting his combination, just watching the numbers spin by, “You called me.” _It’s been a few months._ “Any special reason?”

“Yeah. I want you to come work with me again.”

Eren’s face broke into a wide grin. That was the Levi he remembered. No bullshit.

Eren glanced down the hallway, checking to make sure no one was close enough to see him smiling like an idiot. Eren paid special attention to the way Levi said work _with_ me, not _for_ me.

“Your cellist out of town again or something?” Eren had meant it as a joke. Of course his cellist was out of town, why else would he be asking for Eren? Not that he was upset; if anything Eren wished this cello guy had taken a fucking vacation sooner.

Pause.

“Levi?”

“It’s not quite like that…I guess you could say we got into a disagreement of sorts. Basically, I have a duet that I’m asking you to work on, but I’m also wondering if you’d be willing to work on commissions I get in the future as well. If you’re interested, that is.”

Eren almost smacked his head against the locker to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

Levi wasn’t working with his cellist anymore. _Levi wants to work with me_.

 _Holy shit this is a job offer._ He’d be doing something he really liked, and, by the way, it sounded so far, this shit was long term. It was almost too good to believe.

He forced himself to act composed.

“Could you give me some more information on what I should be expecting? Is this a once a week thing or a once a month thing? Longer?” He almost forgot to add, “How much would I be getting paid?”

Funny how the money was only an afterthought.

“A hundred for each piece; that’s forty for the rehearsal, sixty for the recordings. If I get any last minute commissions, I’ll give you a bonus like last time. Sound good?”

Of course it sounded good. He could’ve offered Eren five bucks and he’d still probably say yes.

“Yeah that’s fine…um…so what about, y’know, the other stuff? How frequently do I get to do this?”

His professionalism was slipping. In all honesty, Eren was trying really hard not to sound like a five-year old that just got promised a weekly allowance.

Levi sighed, “Eren, I’d love to give you a straight answer, but the truth is I don’t know. Sometimes I get duets with cello for five weeks straight, other times you won’t get a call from me for a month. Unless you pick up some other instruments, I can’t guarantee you a job every week.”

Eren nodded even though he knew Levi couldn’t see him. He was already aware that he couldn’t expect a gig every week; he wouldn’t say this outright to the man, but he was still incredibly happy about the job offer in general.

Levi took his silence for hesitation, “I know it’s not perfect, but I want you to know that cello is a popular instrument and if I can get away with substituting another instrument for cello, I almost always do. You know I don’t bullshit, Eren. It is what it is, but…I like your playing, brat. You’re easy to work with and you have a nice sound. Plus you already know the drill; I don’t have to teach you from scratch only to find out I can’t work with you. I already know your style and I know I like it. I was hoping to settle this now, but if you need time to think about it, I can give you a day or two.”

Eren knew himself. His answer wasn’t going to change over the next few days.

~

Eren looked up at Levi as he tightened his bow, the reassuring weight of his cello on his legs.

“Y’know, Hanji was really mad that you told me before they could. “

Levi smirked, “Were they now?”

“Oh yeah. They were in a state of emotional agony for days.”

Levi chuckled as he slid the music onto the stand in front of Eren.

 _AutumnRose_ : Duo for Violin and Violoncello.

“What’s with these titles?”

Levi clicked his tongue at him, “They’re the names.”

“Of?”

“The couples, you idiot.”

Eren frowned and looked at the page again. “Oh.”

He could practically hear Levi roll his eyes as he readied his violin, Eren still studying the music on the stand. There was something else on the page that Eren wanted to ask about—but before he could, Levi cut through his train of thought, “Now shut up so we can actually play. Tempo is about here.” He snapped a slow steady pulse as he conducted in four beats. Eren immediately started subdividing in his head, pushing everything out of his brain. He took a few breaths, glancing over the notes, before signaling that he was ready.

The first read-through was sloppy and Eren quickly found himself patting down his slacks in search of some writing implement. Levi watched him struggle for a few seconds before reaching out and thwacking him on the head with a mechanical pencil.

“Don’t you know better than to come to a rehearsal without a pencil?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Eren grumbled, “I have some in my case.”

“You forgot to bring a water bottle too, didn’t you?”

Eren only huffed in reply, pretending to be too preoccupied with scribbling things into his part.

Even though he said he wouldn’t, Levi still ended up giving Eren a glass of water when they stopped for a short break.

~

Eren arrived early for the recording session to help set up. However, Levi’s process for setting up his equipment was definitely a bit different from how Eren had imagined it. Which is to say, he wasn’t expecting to be holding a ‘special dust rag’ and wearing a bandana when he offered to help organize microphones.

“Oi, there’s still a bit of dust over here. Do you even know how to clean?”

Eren huffed at him and moved to rectify his mistake. Not that he could see any dust on it of course.

“Why are we even—”

The look Levi gave him had his mouth clamped shut in milliseconds, cleaning the invisible dust off the microphone with renewed vigor.

“ _Oi, be gentle_. And it’s so brats like you can’t blame my recording equipment when you sound like shit.”

Eren looked back over at Levi who was laying wires out along the floor, securing them with neon-colored electrical tape. Probably so ‘brats like him didn’t trip over shit.’

“It’s good to take care of your equipment.” Levi was saying, “But dust has a tendency of getting in even when you take the precautions. The sound quality won’t be as good if there's a layer of shit in the way.”

Eren nodded, doubling checking over the mics for any spots he might’ve missed. Again.

“Do you do this before every recording session?” Eren asked, voice a bit muffled by the bandana.

“Of course.”

“Oh.”

Levi gave him a suspicious look, “What?”

“Nothing, I just wish I had offered to help sooner. It seems like a lot of work for one person.”

The infamous eye roll. “I’ve been doing this for _years_ Eren. It’s like breathing.”

“Yeah and I’ve been carrying around my cello for years, but it’s still nice when someone holds the door open for me.”

Levi was silent.

“I’ll help you take down when we’re done today if you want.”

Grey eyes studied him carefully, “You won’t get a pay bonus.”

Eren laughed, “I know.”

~

Eren’s knock was immediately met with an, “It’s open.”

Levi was sitting at his piano, pencil in hand, writing furiously on one of the sheets in front of him. A pair of rectangular glasses was resting on the bridge of his nose. He didn’t even look up to make sure Eren was the one walking into his home and not some weirdo.

“You wear glasses?”

Levi hummed distractedly, “Reading. Sometimes.”

“Oh.” Eren slid his cello off his back.

He might have unpacked a little slower than usual, taking his time to tighten his bow and adjust his endpin, all the while staring sideways at the piano where Levi continued to work.

He looked good.

In a way that Eren hadn’t really expected. For some reason, the glasses just worked with the way his black hair fell across his face. It just kinda fit the whole “flawless and successful musician” vibe Levi was constantly exuding.

Levi jarred backward, tossing the pencil onto the piano rack as he slammed his fingers into a minor chord, immediately moving into a series of moving notes supported by a much more interesting harmonic progression than any of the duets they had worked on thus far.

“Is that…?” Eren trailed off, leaning further forward in his seat to try and catch a glimpse of the papers in front of the other male.

Levi finally turned to look at him, “You bet your ass it is.”

The piano bench lurched backwards with a loud screech as Levi stood and moved over to the couch where his laptop waited, lazily swirling colors over a black screen.

“I’m printing your part out right now. This one is definitely going to take us longer than usual. More often than not, the more musically inclined a client is, the more complicated their duets tend to be.”

Eren’s head tilted to the side. “In general?” He could hear a printer running in a nearby room.

“Yeah. They’re usually longer: more chords, more melodic variation, everything.” Levi said standing up and moving to presumably go get the papers he had just printed.

When Levi handed them to him, Eren could see what he was talking about.

“We’ll tape the pages together if we need to, but let’s just figure what works for now. Move your chair further over here so you can see me.” Levi resumed his seat at the piano, shuffling papers into the order he wanted.

“You’re playing piano.” Eren observed as he moved closer.

“Your mother must be so proud.”

“What?”

“Of how smart you are, now get over here.”

Eren huffed and pushed his entire set-up forward piece by piece until Levi seemed content. Once Eren was seated again, Levi gave him tuning pitches and immediately launched into music mode. Not that he ever really seemed to leave it.

“We’re not going to have time to waste during the next rehearsals to learn our parts, next time I see you, you better have practiced your ass off. This type of piece, it’d take most people at least a couple months to get performance ready.”

Levi gave him a look that plainly said _Guess what? We don’t have months_.

“How long?”

“Two weeks. Three tops, but hell, you didn’t get into one of the top music schools in the world for nothing.”

Eren met his eyes and gave a curt nod.

~

They were both pretty winded. The slow movement was fine—musicality and all that good stuff—but the Allegro was insane. They had spent the majority of the last three rehearsals trying to get it perfectly in sync and up to tempo. They still had another week and a half, but meeting every other day for two hours was taking its toll.

“You still okay for Friday?” Levi asked.

Eren nodded as he gulped down water.

“Good.” Levi stood up and grabbed a drink of his own before settling down on the sofa.

Eren leaned over his cello, hugging its frame. _2 more minutes_. Just 2 more minutes then he’d go pack up.

Levi didn’t seem to mind Eren catching his breath even though their session was technically over; he just picked up his computer and started working on one of his other projects. He paused to look over at Eren when he felt the cellist watching him. He raised a single eyebrow.

“How are you so good at the piano?” Eren had been playing piano since he was a kid, before he had even picked up the cello, but he was nowhere near Levi’s level of skill. Given how good the man was at the violin, it just didn’t seem fair.

Levi leaned away from his computer, fixing his full attention on Eren with a puzzled look. “Hanji didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“I’m a pianist.” Levi slowly shook his head with an exasperated laugh. “We were in the same studio for God’s sake, how else would I know that nut job?”

_Oh yeah, that’s what I thought-_

“Wait, but the violin! How…? I thought you were a pianist, but then you—and you have…” Eren gestured to the other instruments in the room next to the sofa.

Levi followed his gesture, “Yeah, I have two violins, a viola, and my cello’s over there too.”

Eren’s mouth dropped open.

“But you were a pianist at Sina?”

“Well technically, I was a double major. Piano performance and composition, but yeah. I played violin through grade school, though. Can’t really join orchestra on the piano.” He said it with a shrug like it was the most simple, logical thing in the world

With that Eren packed up his cello and left.

He practiced extra that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know a single author that doesn't love Kudos and Comments （＾ω＾）


	3. SophiaMatteo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duets keep comin and they dont stop comin. 
> 
> In which Levi and Eren spend more time together and inevitably butt-heads a little.

Eren rapped on the door, his other hand already turning the handle; it was open before Levi had even called out for him to come in.

They were starting yet another duet today and Eren was excited to say the least. He hastily shut the door behind him and toed off his shoes.

Levi was already warming up and Eren let the melody wash over him, admiring Levi’s deep, rich tone as he carefully slid his cello case off his shoulders—wait. Deep?

That wasn’t a violin.

Eren’s head snapped in the direction of the sound, stumbling over his feet out of the entryway.

It was a miracle that Levi had his back to the door.

It took nothing short of Eren clamping his hand over his mouth to avoid the bark of laughter from catching Levi’s attention. He had almost doubled over at the sight of Levi balanced on a stool supporting an upright bass as he worked his way through the piece in front of him. Eren had to admit that the man was shifting like he’d been doing it for years, but the instrument was just so large next to Levi’s small stature—no matter how big his biceps happened to be. It looked like the damn thing was going to swallow him.

And Eren was one hundred percent sure it wasn’t a full size.

Levi’s foot being propped up by a foam yoga block certainly didn’t help the situation appear any less humorous either.

“If I turn around and you’re laughing, I’m going to shove a carbon fiber bow up your ass,” Levi said.

Eren did his best to school his face into a serious expression, crossing over to the stand that was set up for him. He unpacked quietly, trying to keep his cool. He noticed the music on his stand as he sat down and kept his eyes focused there.

Or at least he would’ve if he hadn’t felt Levi’s glare boring into his forehead. He flicked his gaze back up to the man only to feel his laughter rising and quickly ducked his head back into his stand.

He studied the piece over, trying desperately to distract himself.

“Stop doing that lip twitchy thing. You look fucking stupid.”

“I’m trying really hard to avoid that bow up the ass.” Eren replied.

“Well you’re doing a piss poor job.” He said it with an invisible smile and a hint of finality. Eren could tell he hadn’t really been upset, but now it was time to get to work.

Eren was happy to comply.

~

“How do you feel about a wedding?”

Eren grinned, “Geez Levi, ask a guy to dinner first, would ya?”

He liked teasing him, pushing the boundaries. He didn’t know exactly where they stood, where the line between co-workers and friends was, but he knew that Levi enjoyed the time they spent together.

Levi rolled his eyes. “A friend of mine wants us to play live for the wedding, your typical cheesy wedding shit—don’t worry, I already have everything set out—but the first dance is going to be their piece.”

He glanced at Eren for confirmation.

“When is it?”

“Not for several months, but that’ll give us the time we need to get it perfect,” Levi said. “We’ll do smaller projects on the side, but this will be our focus for a while.”

Eren’s eyebrows rose, his grin spreading, “This new piece sounds pretty challenging.”

“It is.” Levi had a similar gleam in his eye, “You’re going to love it.”

“When do we start?” Eren didn’t bother keeping the excitement out of his voice.

“Next rehearsal.”

He did love a challenge.

~

Eren sat back down, picking up his cello with practiced ease before his brain could register that he had reached for it. He had his cello balanced between his knees, stretching his back one last time when something caught his eye.

“Hey, Levi? Why are your scores all marked Reveille? Is that like a pen name?” It was a question that had been bugging him for weeks, but consistently slipped his mind whenever he saw the man.

It had been on every duet they had read through so far. At the top of the page on the right, where the composer’s name was supposed to go, it just said ‘Reveille’.

Levi glanced at him before moving back towards the piano and retaking his seat.

“More or less.”

Eren’s eyebrows shot up.

Levi had turned away getting ready to continue their rehearsal, but glanced over at Eren again when he felt him staring. He gave an exasperated sigh, “Don’t give me that look, brat, it doesn’t mean anything. Reveille, Levi, they’re pretty much the same thing.”

“So why bother?”

“Are we really getting into this?”

Eren’s unwavering eyes informed him that yes, they were getting into this.

Levi gave a tired laugh, “For fuck's sake, it’s just marketing. People see the name Reveille and they think I’m Ravel, or some shit, so they buy my work. What are they teaching you at school? You should know this by now; you have to sell yourself.”

“Of course I know that, I just…it was just a question.” He fell into silence and Levi almost thought the conversation was over.

“Levi…why…” Eren found it hard to get the words out, the question dying in his throat. His fingers were tapping nervously against the neck of his cello. “Why would you put Reveille on your duets, though. If they’re already enlisting your services, why would you need to market them?” The smooth wood and metal strings of his cello were cool against his hand as his grip tightened.

Eren’s voice was soft, but sharp. Levi only had to look at him to know that the cellist already knew the answer. He just wanted to hear him say it.

“Because I sell them. The pieces and the recordings.” Levi set his jaw and met Eren’s gaze stubbornly.

“So you sell them to the soulmates who asked for them in the first place and then you sell them again to….to whom exactly?” Eren was choosing his words carefully, slowly, eyes never leaving Levi’s.

“To whoever wants them, Eren.”

“Anyone?” His voice was laced with shock and horror, rising in volume.

“Yes.”

There was a small voice in the back of his mind telling him he should really keep his anger in check, go about this calmly, but he fiercely ignored it.

“So you just sell these pieces to whoever the fuck will buy them?” He didn’t really give Levi a chance to answer. The stubborn look in his eyes was telling enough. “Levi, those are fucking private! It’s like selling a piece of someone’s soul!”

“It’s not like I held them at gunpoint and stole their diamonds—”

“That makes it worse!” His voice was echoing off the walls, “These people trusted you with their love songs, their pieces, and you’re fucking selling them. Do they even know? Do they even know that their pieces are floating around all over the world? And you put their fucking names on them too! You just parade them off, pretending to be Ravel or some shit and breach all these people’s privacy! Don’t you have any fucking respect? They’re personal, they’re…” His voice broke. Eren was so angry, he could feel tears welling up in his eyes. He hated when that happened. He never cried when he was sad, or hurt, only when he was this angry.

“Are you going to shut the fuck up and let me talk or are you just going to sit there and scream at me?” Levi’s voice cut through everything. Sharp and deadly. At some point he had moved to stand in front of Eren, pushing the music stand aside.

“If you want answers, I’ll give them to you. But if you don’t, you’re welcome to leave.”

Eren stayed seated. Face still stubbornly set.

“Good.” Levi breathed. “They know. They know everything. They sign a contract to give me the rights to their pieces. If they bother to actually read through the documents I give them, they know everything—from the breakdown of costs, to the company I buy my microphones from.”

He stared at Eren, making sure that he was listening to every word he said.

“Now you probably realize, as do I, that most people are too goddamn fucking lazy to read 50 pages of legal documents, and just flip to the back and sign that shit. Eren, the people who think like you aren’t like that. They feel their soul mate pieces are private, not to be shared with anyone. They might not read all the pages either, but they ask straightforward questions because they’re more reserved about their pieces, where others don’t mind. And that’s fine. I respect that. Guess what? I still offer them a recording if they want it and no permanent score is ever created. It’s used for the recording and then deleted off my computer. Sure, it’s more expensive because I won’t be making any more money off of it once it’s done, but the option is there for them.”

The weight on Eren’s chest lifted as relief washed through him.

“Doesn’t it feel wrong though? To change your name like that? You’re not even writing your real name on your own works, just for the sake of money! Isn’t that fucked up?” Eren asked.

“For fuck's sake, Eren. Yes, yes, it’s fucked up. Do I care? Not really. Stop trying to label me as a good or bad person. You find out I sell soul mate pieces and you look at me like I’m the devil, but as soon as I respect people’s privacy, you’re relieved—I’m good again. It’s not like that. The real world doesn’t work like that. There’s no good, there’s no bad. I’m trying not to get sued, Eren. Does that make me bad? I want to be able to make a living doing something I actually enjoy. Does that make me good? And who the fuck are you to decide?”

There was a drawn-out pause.

“I definitely didn’t sign up to have you preach to me.” He leveled Eren with a sharp gaze. “This is the world we live in. It’s just like anything else that seems beautiful. It’s still twisted and messed up. Nothing’s ever completely pure and good.” He said it with finality and took a step back.

They looked at each other in silence for a moment.

Levi sighed, one hand reaching up to run through his hair.

“Can we get back to work now?” His voice was tired.

Eren nodded.

~

 

“Eren.” Levi’s voice pulled him out of his daze. He couldn’t remember if he’d been lost in the music or his own thoughts.

“You’re rushing the pizzicato,” Levi said bluntly. “Pack up.”

“What?”

“We’re done for the day,” Levi stated.

“Wait, no, I can still—”

“I don’t think that you can. Obviously you’re still bothered about earlier and it’s affecting your playing.”

Eren felt ashamed. He was letting his personal feelings affect his work and he felt like shit. It was such an amateur thing to do.

“Levi, I swear I can—”

“No.” Levi shook his head. “Go home. Get all,” He paused and gestured to Eren with a wave of his hand “ _this_ sorted out and make sure your ass is in that chair on Tuesday, ready to work.”

~

Tuesday had gone just as well as one would expect. The rehearsal was productive and Eren had been able to set aside his inner turmoil for the sake of the music. The subsequent rehearsal had been much the same, yet he still hadn’t apologized.

And he still wasn’t sure that he wanted to.

It’s not that he wanted to be at odds with Levi, because if he was being honest, this fucking sucked. It felt like they were back to square one. Levi was informal, but professional and Eren tiptoed around the boundaries, no longer confident enough to push at them.

He knew Levi had a point, but apologizing felt like he was admitting that he had been in the wrong. And he really didn’t think he had been.

Well, maybe he had been wrong for being so judgmental. For being so quick to jump down Levi’s throat. But even now looking back, Eren couldn’t say that he wouldn’t have done the same thing. There was no fault on his part for being concerned about treating people with basic human respect! It wasn’t that he was one of those brainwashed soulmate idealists that thought anything to do with soulmates was the be-all-end-all of life, just that, morally, he could never sit idly by as others were taken advantage of. Let alone be involved in it; it was him playing on some of those recordings, after all.

And still playing.

He was desperately trying to make sure he was prepared, professional, and engaged. He didn’t want to give this up. Couldn’t.

There was something addictive about performing with Levi and he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he let go of this opportunity so soon. So here they were. Eren didn’t ask nearly as many questions and Levi was even more reserved with his answers.

The previous rehearsal had been spent on the wedding duet, as Eren had come to call it. The piece was challenging. And Levi had been right, Eren loved it, but there was this nagging in the back of his mind that made him think, even though he was a better cellist now than he was a month ago, would this piece have sounded better before?

He hated forcing the emotions into his music. It made him feel fake. Insincere. Ironically, the same thing that kept him from apologizing to Levi was appearing in his music as a consequence of Not apologizing.

Eren let out a loud sigh, debating if he even wanted to use his hand to knock on the door instead of just banging his head against it.

He knocked.

Levi answered.

He started setting up and unpacking.

Same old, same old.

What wasn’t the same old, though, was the set-up he found when he turned around. Normally, Levi would have positioned two stands across from each other with chairs, or just a chair and stand for Eren that were set up facing the piano. Today, Eren found two chairs sitting almost side by side.

“Uhhh…”

_Intelligible as always. Good job, Eren._

“I’d give you the harder part since you’re the better cellist, but honestly they’re about the same, difficulty-wise.”

Levi was getting settled in the chair to the left, putting music on both the stands, a cello nestled between his legs. Eren watched as he struggled to get the endpin into the cello strap, leaning this way and that in his chair so he could see.

“I thought we were working on the wedding duet today?”

Eren promptly decided he definitely should’ve knocked with his head.

_Point number two._

“We were going to,” Levi played two strings, listening as he adjusted the fine tuners, “at least originally anyway, I decided this might be better for today.”

“Um. Any special reason why?” He didn’t really know himself why he was asking. If he were a third party observing, he’d think he was stalling. But Eren had no reason to stall, wasn’t sure why he was hesitating.

“Why don’t you come sit your ass down and see?” Levi gave the end of his bow a small flick to tighten it just a bit more throwing Eren a casual look over his shoulder as he did. His eyes moved from Eren’s face to the empty chair next to him and back again.

Eren finally got his feet moving. He sat down and tuned to Levi’s pitch.

“You should put more rosin on.” Levi was holding a small canister out to him. Eren frowned. The amount of rosin he had on his bow seemed fine…he didn’t want the sound to get too rough. At Eren’s hesitation, Levi raised his eyebrows.

There was an unspoken question hanging between them.

He could look at the music and decide for himself if he needed more rosin, but that would answer Levi the same way refusing the rosin would. So he took it. Popped the cap and added a few more swipes, looking at Levi for confirmation that he was satisfied.

There was a small smile on Levi’s face and a look in his eyes that made Eren feel guilty for hesitating so much. But he also felt like he might have redeemed himself, if only a little. Levi gestured to Eren’s cello with his chin and played an open D for Levi to judge.

“A little more.”

This time he didn’t hesitate. He maintained their eye contact and only stopped when he received Levi’s nod of approval. He passed the rosin back and watched as Levi quickly caked up his own bow with more rosin.

“This one’s a little rougher, a lot more spiccato than we normally play, but it has a very upbeat feel. Some of the chords have a more percussive edge—I’ll show you how I want it. We’ll take it from the top and just work our way through, like always.”

~

“Shhh shhh. Ritard just a little—perfect.”

Levi was moving, swaying side to side with the music, leaning into the chords. Eren was always impressed when he was reminded how much expression Levi put into his playing and how much control he had over his sound.

It was beautiful.

“Loosen up. You’re worrying too much about trying to fit everything in and that’s what’s choking it up. Relax and let the ornamentation happen naturally.”

Eren took all of his advice in stride, adapting his playing as they went. He was getting the hang of it and they were finding their groove.

“Okay. I think we’re ready to run it straight through.” Levi ran a hand through his hair to push it away from his face.

Eren watched it as it moved, momentarily distracted before he caught himself. He gave a nod and immediately relaxed himself, getting ready to play again.

“Eren,” his head jerked to the side at the sound of his name. Levi was wearing the closest thing to a grin he’d seen since meeting the man.

“Try to have fun with it.”

Of course.

It was always fun when he was playing with Levi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, it got a little boring, but hopefully, it wasn't too dry. I figured the boys need to spend some more time together before the pining really kicks in.
> 
> (this chapter was so frickin hard to write you have no idea.)

**Author's Note:**

> [My Tumblr](cloudflowerkami.tumblr.com) 
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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